The Puget Sound 2004 Speaker Contest
A Huge Success!
The Puget Sound DIY Speaker Contest was held August 28th, 2004 at our regular meeting location. There were 12 speakers entered this year and a great turn out for a Saturday, considering the nice weather. Surprisingly, there were more non-members than members at the contest.
Terry Olson did a great job organizing the event and getting the word out. Looks like each event is getting better!
Doors opened at 9:00 AM, and judging began at approximately 9:30 AM, right on schedule. This year there were two "classes" of entries: original DIY designs and kits.
Kit’s were separated into three cost ranges that excluded the
cost of the cabinet and finish as follows:
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Original DIY design categories were:
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The judging was totally blind – this means that a curtain was utilized to ensure that sound and not appearance was the sole evaluation criteria. All speakers had their loudness adjusted to the same level before judging began.
Admission was free and a garage sale/swap meet type offering table was set-up but there was little activity this year.
Winston Ma, Mike Lavigne and Renan Jeffereis were the judges. They each
played pre-selected musical selections (2-3 minutes max.) while sitting
in the "sweet spot". As follows:
Winston Ma
• Arne Domnerus: Antiphone Blues – Sometimes I Feel
Like A Motherless Child
• Mari Nakamoto: Audiophile Reference III – Georgia
On My Mind
• Gino D’Auri: Flamenco Mystico – Flamenco Mystico
Mike Lavigne:
• VINX: Rooms In My Fatha…- Captain’s Song
• Take 6: So Much 2 say – Come Unto Me
• Patricia Barber: Modern Cool – Light My Fire
• Angelique Kidjo: Oremi – Yaki Yaki Ya Ya
• Copland/Eiji Oue - Fanfare For The Common Man
Renan Jeffereis
• Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances on Reference Recordings
Mark Edman built the screen frame (the top pole is his pole vault pole
from his younger days). Jerry Pomeroy provided the screen (the slight veiling
effect, was a benefit for some speakers?). Ted Smith and Mark Edman provided
technical support.
The darkened back room and screen covering the entire width and height
of the room prevented the judges from seeing the speakers. This arrangement
facilitated a rapid and smooth set-up of each speaker. The judges were able
to listen to a new speaker every 15 minutes without stress. This was twice
as fast as the last competition and more smoothly executed. 
Ted Smith provided his EMM Labs (Meitner) DAC6e Reference SACD source, Mark Edman provided his van den Hul preamp and our new Audio Research club amp provided the juice.
Jerry Pomeroy not only arrived before sunrise to start the set-up, he
brought tasty food and was the receptionist.
Dan Wiggins and Dr. David Hyre from Adire Audio measured the frequency
response for each speaker. Dan e-mailed a copy of the graph to each contestant.
Thanks Dan!
Rob Reynold's Pioneer based single driver entry. Note the low diffraction
enclosure and foam phase plug.
Terry Olson's Radio Shack single driver entry (drivers $4.95 each/ $9.90
total, one of the top four speakers for measured frequency response, had
to be within 2.5 dB plus or minus from 65 Hz to 15 kHz).
Joe Pittman’s speakers are actually bowling balls utilizing Adire
Audio’s AV3 3” full range drivers with LINN wire directly soldered
to the drivers. Design features: no crossover, spherical almost difractionless
enclosure, dense non-resonant enclosure, and special internal cavity with
port. The speaker (no bass below 150 Hz) was intended to be used as a satellite/sub
system as shown. The speaker was judged without subwoofer and attached to
club speaker cables.
This is an example of the frequency response for the Joe Pittman’s
speaker as measured by Adire Audio. The profile reminds me of the local
Cascade Mountains.
Aaron Gilbert's "Power Pots" took 2nd place in the under $200
2-way class.
Aaron Gilbert and his "Emerald Tower" speakers
won the over $200 2-way class (also one of the top 4 for measured frequency
response).
Al Garay and the Selah Audio SA-1 kit speaker.
Note the ribbon tweeter.
Tim Foreman's under $200 2-way entry (actually $90.00) with bipole Radio
Shack woofers and Radio Shack bullet tweeter. The speaker utilized heavily
modified drivers and had excellent workmanship.
Chad Kirby and his stunning "Dalek" speakers (over $200 2-way)
had beautiful Retro-style cabinets done in a ribbon walnut veneer (the picture
doesn’t do them justice).
Also in the top four measured frequency response.
Matt Flora's "Wall of Sound" utilized Adire Audio’s AV8
woofer and Radio shack Linaeum tweeter in a full dipole design.
(But seriously, we listened to the speaker after judging, and after putting them on stands,
I thought they were outstanding. – Joe P.)
Dave Rosgaard and his two winning speakers; on his left is his under $200
2-way class winner (top four measured frequency response) and to his right
the top 3-way design, which also won "The Best Sound of the Show"
award.
Chad's Euro speakers, under $200 2-way design with a passive radiator
in the back had loads of bass for such a small cabinet.
And the envelope please… Following is a summary of the winners of this year’s speaker contest:
Best Kit $0-$175/pair: No entry
Best Kit $176-$325/pair: No entry
Best Kit $326+/pair: Al Garay/ Selah Audio SA-1
Best One way – under $75: Joe Pittman
Best Two way – under $200: Dave Rosgaard
Best Two way – over $200: Aaron Gilbert (The Emerald Towers)
Best Three way – under $300: Dave Rosgaard
Best Three way – over $300: No entry
Best Unlimited – no $ limit: No entry
Best Sound of Show: Dave Rosgaard's 3-way
The Puget Sound DIY speaker contest was a huge success and a lot of fun. On behalf of the club, I want to thank all those who helped make it happen, the set-up and technical crew, the judges, the contestants, and the attendees! I hope to see you at the next one.
Author: ~ Joe Pittman